Dutch beer imports by source 1946 - 1954

Yet more boring old numbers for you. Perhaps there's one person out there, other than me, who's interested in this stuff.

Little beer was imported in the immediate post-war years and, initially, from different sources. It wasn’t until the 1950s that Germany regained its position of major supplier of imports. Though not back to the same volume as pre-war.

Belgium was establishing itself at the same time as a strong number two, increasing volumes to ten times of what they’d been before the war. While Czech imports dried up after the communist takeover in 1949. UK imports didn’t dry up, they just hadn’t restarted.

The percentage of imports in bottled form greatly increased after the war, rising from 14.5% in to 58.5% in 1952.  Though a majority imports from Germany remained draught beer. 

Dutch beer imports by source 1946 - 1954 (hl)
	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954
Total	280	3,360	520	1,030	970	5,215	9,138	11,957	25,045
Germany			-	620	830	3,529	5,096	8,017	15,811
Belgium & Luxemb.			300		-	1,637	3,863	3,455	8,249
Czechoslovakia	280	1,000	210	290
Denmark							-	30	501
USA		2,360
Source:
De Nederlandse Brouwindustrie in Cijfers, by Dr. H. Hoelen, Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor, 1955, held at the Amsterdam City Archives, pages 32 - 33.

Dutch beer imports by source 1946 - 1954 (%)
	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954
Germany				60.19%	85.57%	67.67%	55.77%	67.05%	63.13%
Belgium & Luxemb.			57.69%			31.39%	42.27%	28.90%	32.94%
Czechoslovakia	100.00%	29.76%	40.38%	28.16%
Denmark								0.25%	2.00%
USA		70.24%
Source:
De Nederlandse Brouwindustrie in Cijfers, by Dr. H. Hoelen, Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor, 1955, held at the Amsterdam City Archives, pages 32 - 33.

They're changing the pastel into the present

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1909 Whitbread FA

Not much of a recipe today. I spent several hours messing around getting my booster jab. I don't feel inclined to write much. Which is handy, as I've bugger all to say about this particular beer.

Completing the set of Whitbread Pale Ales is Family Ale. A beer which had been around since the 1870s. Though it had lost a few degrees in gravity. And also remarkably similar to something else.

Namely IPA. The ingredients, OG and hopping rate of FA are just about identical with those of IPA. It makes you wonder why they bothered brewing two identical products. FA would be another victim if WW I, last being brewed in 1918.

All fresh East Kent hops, again, three types all from the 1908 season.

1909 Whitbread FA
pale malt	8.00 lb	80.00%
no. 1 sugar	2.00 lb	20.00%
Goldings 105 mins	1.75 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	0.50 oz
OG	1049.3
FG	1014
ABV	4.67
Apparent attenuation	71.60%
IBU	69
SRM	6.5
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread ale

 

McMullen images

Here we go again

Every Saturday me and Andrew walk down to Butcher's Tears for a few beers. Meeting up with my mates Will and Lucas.

We used to get down there between 15:30 and 16:00. But since they started closing pubs at 17:00 a few weeks ago we've started going earlier. What's the point in going to a pub for just an hour?

The plan was different this week. As Lucas had to work on Saturday, we arranged to meet on Sunday instead. Which was also the last time they were going to be open until the New Year. I'd have to reschedule our Sunday Dinner to be a bit earlier to get to the pub on time.

When 14:00 rolled around on Saturday, I weirdly fancied a pint.

"Do you want to go sown the pub, Andrew?"

"Sure."

He's never one to turn down a beer. Especially when I'm paying. Which is always when we go out together.

 

There were only a few other punters when we got there. It filled up a bit, later, but wasn't packed.

Since the hours have been restricted they've had a more limited range of draught beers. Just three or four instead of seven of eight. There was a new one, though. Something simply called Blond. Barman Hubert explained what it was.

"It was supposed to be a Pilsener. But something went wrong in Belgium [where some of their beers are brewed]. I think they used the wrong yeast."

That's what it tasted like. It had the spicy flavours associated with some Belgian yeasts.

"It tastes a bit like Leffe Blond." I told Andrew when he let me take a sip. "But better."

Andrew seemed pretty pleased with it. At least, he ordered a second pint.

"See you tomorrow, Hubert." I said after settling our bill.

"I don't think so."

"Why? Won't you be working?"

"They're closing the pubs again from tomorrow."

Damn.

"Just as well we came down today, Andrew."

Who knows when the pubs will be open again. What will I do on Saturday afternoons?

Dutch beer imports by source 1936 - 1938

Annoyingly, the export figures aren't broken down by destination.  Yet the imports are by source. Still, better than nothing.

Not a great deal of beer was imported into Holland before the war. The vast majority came from just two sources: Germany and Czechoslovakia. With the former definitely the senior partner. Only small quantities came from Belgium, a country which would eventually become the source of most imports.

Some rather unexpected countries appear in the table: Indonesia, Egypt and Curacao. It’s hard to understand the logic behind shipping beer such long distances from places not renowned for brewing.

It’s surprising what a large proportion of imports were in draught form – around 98%. I suppose it reflects the fact that the vast majority of beer was consumed in that format in Holland.

Looking at imports in percentage terms, the dominance of Germany is even more obvious. Over 85% were sourced there. Czechoslovakia us the only other country to hit double figures. 

Dutch beer imports by source 1936 - 1938 (hl)
	1936			1937			1938
	draught	bottled	total	draught	bottled	total	draught	bottled	total
Total	24,092	559	24,651	24,690	405	25,095	25,436	324	25,760
Germany	20,565	354	20,919	21,155	195	21,550	22,125	192	22,517
Belgium & Luxemb.	851	-	851	800	-	800	528	-	528
UK	117	52	149	107	26	155	108	27	135
France	2	-	2	-	-	-	5	1	6
Czechoslovakia	2,521	-	2,521	2,549	-	2,549	2,611	-	2,611
Ireland	26		26	2	—	2	-	-	-
Denmark	-	69	69	-	45	45	-	50	50
Egypt	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
South Africa	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
India	-	9	9	-	-	-	-	-	-
Indonesia	9	4	15	14	2	16	27	26	53
Surinam	4	-	4	4	-	4	-	-	-
Curacao	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	3
USA	-	-	-	60	92	152	28	1	29
New Zealand	-	-	-	-	5	5	-	-	-
Source:
De Nederlandse Brouwindustrie in Cijfers, by Dr. H. Hoelen, Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor, 1955, held at the Amsterdam City Archives, page 32.

Dutch beer imports by source 1936 - 1938 (%)
Country	1936	1937	1938
Germany	84.86%	85.87%	87.41%
Belgium & Luxemb.	3.45%	3.19%	2.05%
UK	0.60%	0.62%	0.52%
France	0.01%		0.02%
Czechoslovakia	10.23%	10.16%	10.14%
Ireland	0.11%	0.01%
Denmark	0.28%	0.18%	0.19%
Egypt	0.004%
South Africa	0.004%
India	0.04%
Indonesia	0.06%	0.06%	0.21%
Surinam	0.02%	0.02%
Curacao			0.01%
USA		0.61%	0.11%
New Zealand		0.02%
Source:
De Nederlandse Brouwindustrie in Cijfers, by Dr. H. Hoelen, Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor, 1955, held at the Amsterdam City Archives, page 32.

Dutch beer production by type 1938 - 1954 (again)

Yes. Time for even more numbers.  No respite quite yet.

Here’s a different breakdown of Dutch beer sales. This time, not by strength category but by other characteristics.

Dark and pale are pretty easy to pin down, as are draught and bottled. Not so sure about bitter and sweet. Pils is obviously the former and Oud Bruin the latter. Not so sure about where Lagerbier fits in. Based on the number, it looks like sweet must include Donker Lagerbier.

The obvious post-war trends were moves from dark to pale, sweet to bitter and draught to bottled. I’m shocked that pre-war dark beers accounted for almost 50% of the Dutch market. I would never have guessed that. Nor that such a high percentage of beer was sold on draught. Even in the UK, where draught was the norm, a higher percentage of beer was sold in bottled form on the 1940s.

It looks like there was a switch from drinking in the pub to drinking at home in the 1950s, something which happened in many European countries.

Dutch beer production by type 1938 - 1954 (hl)
Year	Dark	Pale	Bitter	Sweet	Draught	Bottled	Total
1938	585,328	684,028	685,477	583,879	-	-	1,269,356
1939	660,662	737,449	738,963	659,148	-	-	1,398,111
1946	-	-	-	-	1,438,471	350,935	1,789,406
1947	553,671	1,045,631	-	-	1,042,101	557,201	1,599,302
1948	368,958	940,992	948,747	361,203	768,153	541,797	1,309,950
1949	230,732	776,743	780,475	227,300	574,158	433,627	1,007,785
1950	223,288	845,174	847,605	220,857	606,821	461,641	1,068,462
1951	211,405	871,248	873,595	209,058	608,210	474,443	1,082,653
1952	213,720	910,789	913,422	211,087	597,964	526,545	1,124,509
1953	237,155	1,046,593	1,049,076	234,672	645,166	638,253	1,283,419
1954	235,527	1,175,005	1,177,183	233,349	694,341	716,191	1,410,532
Source:
De Nederlandse Brouwindustrie in Cijfers, by Dr. H. Hoelen, Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor, 1955, held at the Amsterdam City Archives, page 41.

 

Dutch beer production by type 1938 - 1954 (%)
Year	Dark	Pale	Bitter	Sweet	Draught	Bottled
1938	46.11%	53.89%	54.00%	46.00%	-	-
1939	47.25%	52.75%	52.85%	47.15%	-	-
1946	-	-	-	-	80.39%	19.61%
1947	34.62%	65.38%	-	-	65.16%	34.84%
1948	28.17%	71.83%	72.43%	27.57%	58.64%	41.36%
1949	22.89%	77.07%	77.44%	22.55%	56.97%	43.03%
1950	20.90%	79.10%	79.33%	20.67%	56.79%	43.21%
1951	19.53%	80.47%	80.69%	19.31%	56.18%	43.82%
1952	19.01%	80.99%	81.23%	18.77%	53.18%	46.82%
1953	18.48%	81.55%	81.74%	18.28%	50.27%	49.73%
1954	16.70%	83.30%	83.46%	16.54%	49.23%	50.77%
Source:
De Nederlandse Brouwindustrie in Cijfers, by Dr. H. Hoelen, Centraal Brouwerij Kantoor, 1955, held at the Amsterdam City Archives, page 41.